There's certainly been no shortage of games in the last month or so, and it's easy for games to get lost in the proverbial avalanche. In a show of mutual admiration, though, two leads behind two RPGs, both of which launched in the same week, are promoting each others' games to fans.

As spotted by GamesRadar, Kazutaka Kodaka — creator of Danganronpa and co-director behind the recently released The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy — shouted out players reaching a milestone in his own game. Then, he went on to shout out another current RPG in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. "Even after you finish Expedition 33, this Japanese cult game will still be here, waiting for you!" said Kodaka.

He went on to praise Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 in a follow-up post, drawing a comparison between the two games' unique takes on their respective genres. "Expedition 33 is an amazing tribute to classic JRPG, while Hundred Line is a cult Japanese VN & SRPG," said Kodaka. "Hundred Line has its own unique charm too, so why not play!!!"

Sandfall Interactive seemed to notice the shout-outs, and the official Expedition 33 account posted a message from creative director Guillaume Broche:

"After your Expedition, check out The Hundred Line, another great turn-based RPG that was also released last week, and made with love by an awesome team. There's too many good RPGs coming out at the same time, these days!"

A note from Guillaume Broche, @SandfallGames Creative Director:

After your Expedition, check out The Hundred Line, another great turn-based RPG that was also released last week, and made with love by an awesome team.

There's too many good RPGs coming out at the same time, these… https://t.co/AmGExVxXUp

— Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (@expedition33) April 30, 2025

Kodaka followed up, with more praise for Expedition 33:

"Thank you!!!! And for those of you who finished your school life first—it’s time to head out on an expedition! Expedition 33 is the future of RPGs. With unique RPGs like these coming out at the same time, now’s the perfect time to dive in and enjoy everything the genre has to offer"

There are, frankly, a lot of games coming out every year. Per SteamDB, over 6,000 games have hit Valve's PC platform in 2025 as of this writing. Over 18,000 released on Steam last year alone. By any metric, that's a baffling number, and even games with newsworthy creators may struggle to reach audiences in the massive flood of new things to play. Factor in ever-evolving live-service games and their content update schedules, and everything, everywhere is fighting for your time and attention.

In light of that, it's heartwarming to not only see two creators acknowledging and promoting each others' games, but encouraging fans to go play them afterwards. In the never-ending battle for eyes and attach rates, encouraging players to roll credits and move on to other experiences is noteworthy.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is out now for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy is also out now, for PC and Nintendo Switch. If you're close to finishing one, it sounds like you might want to check out the other, too.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

The impeccable Shōgun, winner of a whopping 18 Emmy Awards and 4 Golden Globes, is making its way back for a second season — and the plans are underway. Cosmo Jarvis, who stars in the series as pilot John Blackthorn, has officially signed on to return to the role for Season 2, as well as to join the team as a co-executive producer, according to an official press release from FX.

Additionally, lead Hiroyuki Sanada — who signed on for Season 2 last May after the show was renewed despite originally being a limited series — was upped to an executive producer after producing the original run. The show is officially set to begin production on Season 2 and return to Vancouver, where the original series was shot, in January 2026.

FX said the second season of the show is “a wholly original new chapter to the first season,” which was an adaptation of James Clavell’s novel of the same name. About the two seasons and how they connect, the network explained:

“In the first season, Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Sanada) fought for his survival as his enemies in the Council of Regents united against him. When a mysterious European ship was found marooned in a nearby village, its English pilot John Blackthorne (Jarvis) shared vital strategic secrets with Toranaga that tipped the scales of power in his favor to win a century-defining civil war.

"Part two of Shōgun is set 10 years after the events of the first season and continues the historically-inspired saga of these two men from different worlds whose fates are inextricably entwined.”

If there's any good in this world, we’ll get some new episodes of this excellent show by the end of 2026 — but for now, we can only wait and hope.

Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.

Woot's Spring Video Game Sale has had plenty of excellent gaming goodies to check out, and this discount is another great addition to its selection of deals. Assassin's Creed Shadows for Xbox Series X has been discounted there for the first time, currently marked down to $54.99. This is a 21% discount from its list price of $69.99.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows (XSX) for $54.99

With your hands full of guns and a warrant for the Devil’s arrest in your pocket, Shotgun Cop Man sends you on a nonstop blitz of new ideas. This short and sweet action-platformer continually reinvents itself across 10 clever worlds, leaving little room for a good idea to get stale. Once I mastered its distinct style of projectile-based movement, barrelling through the circles of hell turned into a pure power fantasy. Even though it’s harder than it should be to chase high scores and better times, I still had a blast gunning for a more optimized run after the credits rolled.

Shotgun Cop Man’s goofy vibes, flashy acrobatics, and time attack setup transported me back to my middle school days of bypassing the browser security settings in the computer lab to sneak in runs of Flash games like Fancy Pants Adventures or Electricman 2. Granted, this would blow many of those study hall time killers out of the water, but I could still easily see myself racing to the end of its first world with a friend while we’re supposed to be working on a research paper or math homework. It shares the same tight scope and paired back tone, but here those mask a surprisingly deep platformer.

Shotgun Cop Man isn’t just a standard run-n-gun shoot-em-up. Instead, the recoil from your shotgun serves as the driving force behind most of the movement. Need to take out some demons to your right? Well, you better make sure the coast is clear to your left when you pull the trigger. This challenging, but ultimately rewarding, system of ballistic blowback fills in for genre-standards like jumping or dashing midair, while firing your sidearm — which ranges from a satisfyingly snappy but weak pistol to a powerful gatling gun — allows you to hover midair or make more precise hops.

You can’t just spray and pray you wind up on the next platform, though. Each weapon has limited ammo, keeping Shotgun Cop Man relatively grounded: the shotgun itself only holds three shells at a time, so he needs to touch terra firma to reload. That said, sidearms tend to have bigger magazines, allowing for a reliable second option to fall back on when you need to get to the ground and take another shot at a tough jump. This restrained approach brings a levelheaded balance to Shotgun Cop Man that encourages mayhem and speed without leaving precision and skill in the dust.

To make matters more difficult, Shotgun Cop Man also has to contend with the armies of Hell as he chases down their leader. Aside from a few combat-focused levels that blend each circle of Hell’s unique mechanics into an arena-style showdown, as well as the requisite boss that shows up at the end of each 17-level world, Shotgun Cop Man is all about movement. Because of that, enemies play second fiddle here, being treated as platforming obstacles masterfully woven into each level. They act like the bright-red explosive barrels of a 3D shooter, providing the satisfaction of popping them while offering direction on where and when to shoot. Shotgun Cop Man bets big on its platforming acumen rather than falling in-line with other action platformer successes like Katana Zero, and it pays off in spades.

Still, this unique movement takes quite some time to get used to, especially if you’re playing with a controller: Pointing in two different directions like a twin-stick shooter (left for walking, right for aiming) makes for an unnatural platformer control scheme. Wrapping my head around it felt like being asked to rub my belly and pat my head at the same time. Unfortunately, there’s really no better way to make this specific type of movement work on the sticks, though it is much more comfortable with a keyboard and mouse. Thankfully, Shotgun Cop Man’s accessibility features allow you to skip certain inputs, like making it so you pick up new sidearms automatically, so you can tweak things to be much more comfortable.

I was halfway through the roughly five hour campaign by the time I felt like I’d fully climbed its relatively steep learning curve, mastering this propulsion-based blend of combat and movement. Normally, this initial struggle would be a knock against it, but Shotgun Cop Man constantly introduces and innovates on new ideas while rewarding your growing mastery of them. It also sets up systems that successfully encouraged me to obsessively replay levels in an attempt to shave nanoseconds off my time. This potent blend dangles an appetizing carrot-on-a-stick to gnash at in bite-sized speedruns once you’ve found your footing.

When he inevitably takes a hit, Shotgun Cop Man’s heart comically pops out of his body. Running into it will pick it up and restore health, but he’ll die in one hit without it. When that happens, the camera zooms in on his oddly detailed face as he says, “I die,” in a goofy, computerized voice. This minimal, self-aware sense of humor sets the tone overall, as there’s otherwise not much of a premise to explain here (and developer Dead Toast Entertainment even pokes fun at this in the credits by putting quotes around the word “Story”). You’re a cop with a shotgun trying to arrest the Devil. Naturally, Old Scratch doesn’t play ball. Each time our hero catches up to him, Satan tells the boy in blue to shove it, and you continue on your chase once more. It’s thin, but it works, and is just amusing enough to keep things moving.

Unfortunately, that sense of humor eventually becomes Shotgun Cop Man’s Waterloo. Each time it zooms in on his face as he points out the obvious, it takes far too long to get back into the action. It takes as many as three button presses to respawn, and even longer to restart a level. I know how silly this sounds in the face of everything Shotgun Cop Man gets right, but in a game where you’ll be dying and trying again quite a bit, these add up to completely hamper any sense of momentum. That’s especially glaring when every level in Shotgun Cop Man grades your performance on whether or not you killed every enemy, beat the par time, took any damage, or did all three of those in the same run. In what feels like a big oversight, there’s no quick level restart button when you die, so to chase that perfect run, you need to resume the level after that death, pause, and then hit the retry option from there. Because Shotgun Cop Man trades in seconds and milliseconds (most levels took me less than a minute to complete), this otherwise small bump in the road became an outsized, unnecessary part of mastering each level.

That said, for a game that only took me about five hours to see from end to end, Shotgun Cop Man crams in a staggeringly impressive range of innovations and spins on its seemingly simple run-and-shoot formula. It ricochets from idea to idea, never allowing a mechanic to get old — in fact, there are quite a few I wish got some more time to shine, like reactive floors, which alternate between safe and deadly each time they’re shot, or clever box-moving puzzles that put your understanding of each weapon’s power to the test. Most mechanics get a chance to shine before being woven into more new mechanics later on, but there’s also an impressive level creator (exclusive to the PC version) that lets you toy with some of these ideas yourself if you feel like your favorite didn’t get its time in the sun.

I’m not much of a level designer myself, but the creation suite provides a robust toy chest for dedicated designers to mess around with. It doesn’t just feature tools that enable you to recreate or expand upon any clever idea found in the campaign, it even includes wholly unique mechanics that aren’t found there, like extra enemy and NPC types. I didn’t get to try any user-created levels during the pre-release period, but I’m really excited to see what people think up once Shotgun Cop Man is out in the wild.

After years of struggle, Blizzard Entertainment has found itself in uncharted territory: Overwatch players are having fun again.

The Overwatch team knows failure well. Its massive launch in 2016 was eventually dampened by divisive balance decisions, a disastrous launch for Overwatch 2, a sea of negative reviews, the cancellation of PvE content – the list goes on. As each controversy was usually only followed by another, fans began to wonder if Blizzard would ever regain its footing or if the glory days of Overwatch were left in 2018. Following an invasion of fundamental changes, fans have determined Overwatch 2 is set up not only for the best lineup of content it’s seen in years but what might be the best state it's ever been in.

To All Agents of Overwatch

On February 12, 2025, game director Aaron Keller assembled the Overwatch team to debut an Overwatch 2 Spotlight presentation that was said to explore “what the future holds.” With years of painful decisions in the rearview mirror, fans were split between fear and cautious optimism, leaving little room for excitement as it became clear this was a make-or-break moment for Blizzard. What followed was a 34-minute breakdown that included a detailed content release schedule, copious amounts of changes players had been pleading to see implemented for years, and, most importantly, transparency.

Where false, nigh unreachable promises plagued years past, Overwatch 2’s 2025 outline felt attainable. Damage and Support heroes Freja and Aqua made their debut here, as did Stadium, a revolutionary third-person Competitive mode poised to shake up the tedium of standard matches. Loot boxes, the controversial monetization tactic left behind when the original Overwatch was shuttered in 2022, were back with tweaks that made them more rewarding without a tie to real-world money. Perks gave all 43 characters a set of four unique, game-changing abilities, and Blizzard even managed to further detail its plan to bring back 6v6. It was a weighty list of tangible additions and more content than Overwatch players had seen since the launch of Overwatch 2 – and most of it would be added within only a few months.

Not gonna lie I had a lot of fun playing 6v6 perk watch today

It makes me really happy to say Overwatch actually has found the light on this path

Post bans, 6v6 open queue perkwatch is the best state the game has been in since 2020

Looks like hero shooters will stay winning!

— Samito (@SamitoFPS) April 5, 2025

Now, in April, loot boxes, Freja, Stadium, Classic balance modes, and more have executed on Blizzard’s mission to turn the page to a new chapter of Overwatch. It’s been a much-needed break from the monotony of same-y seasonal content releases coupled with exceeded expectations for those who were, justifiably, worried the hero shooter would never be seen in a positive light again. There’s debate about what triggered such a radical change in strategy, but there is no denying Overwatch 2 is currently backed by a team that wants to see it succeed. This is a different Blizzard.

“They pulled themselves out the gutter with this one,” Reddit user Right_Entertainer324 said regarding the Overwatch 2 Spotlight. “Super excited for the future of Overwatch 2, for the first time in… Well, ever.”

Experience Tranquility

Through ups and downs, it’s been about seven years since Overwatch was the titan fans originally fell in love with. Even with the onslaught of kept promises bombarding players for both Season 15 and Season 16, Overwatch 2’s current season, your average fan has every reason to believe the other shoe could drop at any moment. It’s been that way since February, yet Blizzard is charging forward.

“Let's be honest, (Overwatch 2's) development history has been... troubled,” a popular post from Reddit user ImperialViking_ said. “When PvE was cancelled we all thought it was the end. Now, come Season 15, Overwatch has turned the corner and the future is looking super bright.”

They continued: “All in all I think it goes without saying that the devs have really been hitting it out of the park recently. People calling them ‘lazy’ is just plain wrong. There are OF COURSE still issues with (Overwatch), and there always will be, but the decisions of Aaron and the team have led the game to a healthy state of growth and competition. I think that deserves praise.”

Reddit, Discord, X/Twitter – there’s been a vibe shift on every platform where people can talk about Overwatch. Posts praising Stadium are all too likely to show up on fans’ feeds, as are comments from players thrilled Season 16 introduced Competitive hero bans. This long-requested feature finally made its proper debut last week, essentially giving players the option to never play with or against pesky heroes like Sombra ever again if they don’t want to.

Of course, Blizzard is only just lifting off when it comes to the journey to rebuild the goodwill it’s lost over the years. Overwatch fans surely won’t let it forget the damage done, but the change in attitude is undeniable.

Content creator Niandra, whose “Let’s Talk About the State of Overwatch 2” video examined the hero shooter with a fine-toothed comb last summer, remains cautious but tells us they feel “pretty good” about where things are at now. They believe fans are starting to come around, too, thanks to a few key additions.

“I think a particularly critical playerbase is to be somewhat expected with games that try to be your forever game and a part of your daily routine,” they explain, “but I think the (Overwatch) community is getting happier!

“It feels like the momentum of perks into Stadium and Freja has brought a lot of goodwill. Morale in the community felt really low during the release of Marvel Rivals and its following month, especially since Overwatch didn't immediately respond with sweeping changes. Upon reflection, that was probably the correct move as Marvel Rivals is now having its own issues while Overwatch has released big changes. I wouldn't be surprised if ex Overwatch players have curiously checked out the game again recently.”

Stadium has now established itself as a core component of Overwatch 2, but its importance doesn’t stop at the fresh gameplay it brings to the nine-year-old hero shooter. A game mode as radically different as this has players engaging in good-faith discussion about what could make it better. It will take time for the community to fully wrap its head around the value it could add to the free-to-play experience, but mostly, they’re just enjoying the ride.

One clear point of criticism has revolved around the fact that Stadium lacks a Quickplay option and, as a result, crossplay support. While it’s barred groups of friends on different platforms from testing out its many character builds and synergies, most assumed a mode in its infancy would be fleshed out with more features in future seasons. That, along with Blizzard’s usual reluctance to reveal its hand, is why it was so shocking to see concerns addressed just days after complaints emerged.

“God it is so nice seeing this,” one Reddit user commented after Blizzard promised to tackle highly requested features like crossplay. “Literal IMMEDIATE update on feedback they’ve been given. Making no promises but being transparent about what the feedback is and how they intend to handle it. I really do love this direction of community communication they’ve been on for the last year or so.”

Does This Mean Overwatch Is Back?

Overwatch has been a black sheep in gaming for a while. A once-great staple of the multiplayer world fell from grace and spent years finding new ways to fall further. Renewed faith and interest in what it can be isn’t proof that all wounds have been healed or that Overwatch 2 is now perfect, but it is a sign that it can claw its way back.

While the momentum is there, many agree that there is one trump card Blizzard could play to get its community fully invested in the future of Overwatch: traditional story cinematics. These narrative tie-ins each amassed millions of views upon release but were largely abandoned when Blizzard shifted its focus onto the game itself. Still, considering it helped draw a connection between players and the characters that hold the experience up, these videos remain one of the most desired – if not the most desired – components fans hope will return.

“It feels like Overwatch has spent the last few years focusing on just the game itself, which has been wonderful don't get me wrong, but does mean the reach outside of it feels limited," Niandra added. "Overwatch feels much like one very well-made PvP game, as opposed to the big multimedia franchise it has the potential to be, which is a shame considering all the praise its world-building and lore has gotten over the years."

Following Blizzard’s February event, Overwatch has managed to jump from being the most negatively reviewed Steam game of all time to having “Mixed” reactions from players. As the team continues to invest in additions like Stadium and the long-awaited return to 6v6, its consistency in the long term will be the key in determining if Blizzard is able to reclaim all of the ground it's lost. If the last few months are anything to go off of, it’s absolutely doable.

“I think we’ve entered a new golden age of Overwatch,” hero-shooter content creator and longtime Overwatch player Flats said during a recent livestream. “Overwatch is potentially in the best state it’s ever been, and it’s not even close. Better than the launch of Overwatch 2. Better than when the PvE missions ‘came out.’ Dare I say, better than Overwatch 1. The only time, maybe not, is 2016 hype when it first started – arguably.”

Overwatch 2 Season 16 kicked off the next phase of Blizzard’s grand scheme last week. It introduced newcomer Freja as its latest Damage hero, with this week ushering in a mech-fueled Gundam collaboration. Future seasons are said to come with a Dva Mythic skin, a Reaper Mythic Weapon skin, additional Stadium characters, and more. Time will tell if it’s enough to revive Overwatch to its former glory.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

The latest Nintendo Switch system update is out, introducing new systems like the Virtual Game Cards ahead of the launch of Switch 2. Implementing that has closed off a method for playing the same digital game online across two systems at the same time, though.

As noted by Eurogamer, Switch users could previously use the primary console to pull up a game and play it online, alongside the owner of said game logged in on another Switch. This loophole has been closed off with the new Virtual Game Cards system.

Users are reporting that you can still play a single copy of a digital game by going offline, though. By going to your profile's user settings and turning on the Online Licenses option, you can play a digital game even if you don't have the Virtual Game Card, so long as it isn't being played somewhere else, or as long as the Switch playing it is set offline. Here's the text for the setting:

"If this option is enabled, purchased digital software will be playable while the console is connected to the internet, even when the virtual game card for that software isn't loaded to the console. However, when using an online licence, only the user signed int to the Nintendo Account that was used to purchase the software will be able to play it, it will not be playable for other users on the console. Your virtual game cards can be used to play software regardless of this setting. Online licences cannot be used on multiple consoles at the same time. The online licence and virtual game card for a software title cannot be used at the same time."

Essentially, if one Switch is offline in some way, you can still play the same game at the same time across two Switches. Eurogamer tested this and verified the system works. The big change is that, if you want to play the same game online at the same time, that loophole appears to be closed.

Fans aren't too keen on the change, as users across forums like ResetEra and Reddit are frustrated that their previous game sharing set-ups aren't going to work the same. Specifically, the ability to play online at the same time is a gripe, as people mention playing games like Splatoon or Minecraft as a family or group.

Users note that for families, this would double the cost of picking up games moving forward if they have multiple kids that want to play a Switch game together. Families that previously played together will have to buy more copies. While it's essentially closing a loophole, it was a useful loophole, and it's not surprising to see people frustrated with the new system already.

This all arrives just over a month out from the launch of the Switch 2, which will utilize the same system. It's also going to use Game-Key Cards, meaning certain games — a decent number of them, actually — will not have the entire physical game on the Switch 2 cartridge, and will require an online download.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

Call of Duty is steeped in 4/20 culture. It’s something Activision has monetized for years now, doubling down on the fanbase’s reputation for kicking back and relaxing while going for those killstreaks. But with Black Ops 6 and Warzone, the 4/20 microtransactions have leveled up, and now Seth Rogen is in the game some fans have had enough.

The Season 03 Reloaded update, out tomorrow, May 1, is pretty much all about 4/20 culture, even though it arrives 11 days after the day itself. The Joint Operations (I see what they did there) Limited Time Mode is a Black Ops 6 multiplayer variant that adds modifiers, including a +420 Score Bonus (I see what they did there), 3rd Person, Visual Impairment, Double Health, Hardcore, Paranoia Sounds, Low Gravity, Double Jump, and Increased Movement Speed (I see what they did there, etc).

It’s a similar situation over in battle royale Warzone. The Verdansk Limited Time Mode High Trip Resurgence (I’m not saying it again) challenges players to “smoke” the competition (nope, I’m not saying it).

After the success of Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th kicked off the 80's by taking the slasher genre to gorey new heights. Jason Voorhees first appeared (sort of) to terrify teens at a Crystal Lake summer camp, and its safe to say the original Friday the 13th is essential viewing for any horror fan. 12 movies and 11 directors later, the hockey-mask wearing horror villain has become a zombie, gone to space, and battled a fellow slasher icon.

For anyone looking for a slasher binge, here's where you can stream all of the Friday the 13th movies right now.

Where to Watch the Friday the 13th Movies Online

The Friday the 13th movies have consistently been pretty hard to find online. This past October, the first eight Friday the 13th movies ("the original series," if you will) found a home at Paramount+, but at some point since then were quietly removed. Now, you can only find the eight original Friday the 13th movies on Pluto TV, a free streaming service with ads. The more recent Friday the 13th reboot is streaming on Max.

Otherwise, all of the Friday the 13th movies are available to rent or purchase from digital storefronts, which is the only way to get your hands on Jason Goes to Hell (maybe that one's for the best), Freddy vs Jason, and Jason X.

Friday the 13th Movies on Blu-ray

It’s a Minecraft world, folks — we’re just singing in it. A Minecraft Movie continues to hit major milestones a month after debuting in theaters and catapulting its way toward becoming the highest-grossing video game movie ever at the global box office. Now, the movie’s “Steve's Lava Chicken” song, sung by star Jack Black himself, has made its way to the coveted Billboard Hot 100 Chart in the United States. Yeah, you read that right.

At just 34 seconds, the song — which boasts deep lyrics like “la-la-la-lava ch-ch-ch-chicken” — has become the shortest ever to hit the Hot 100. It debuts on the chart dated May 3, 2025 and comes in at No. 78, which is pretty solid for a sub-35 second song. Additionally, the track, which was written by Black and the film’s director Jared Hess, has hit No. 10 on the Hot Rock Songs Chart.

Interestingly enough, this isn’t even the first chart the song has made it onto. Earlier this month, the song debuted at No. 21 on the UK’s official chart — so clearly Black’s solo is really connecting with the movie’s audience. Plus, this isn’t Black’s first time charting for a film either. He hit No. 58 for “Peaches” from The Super Mario Bros. Movie back in 2023 as well.

A Minecraft Movie screenings have been pretty rowdy affairs so far, but it seems as though fans will have an opportunity to meme and scream their way through the “Chicken Lava” song and the rest of the film as the studios are debuting specific screenings meant for audience interaction.

"Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures invite fans back to the theater to experience A Minecraft Movie together in a whole new way! You know the moments. You know the lines. You love the songs,” stated the announcement for the set of Block Party Edition screenings that will take place on May 2 across the United States and select international locations. “Now it's time to get loose, laugh out loud and belt out those lyrics like a true diamond-tier fan.”

We’ve got plenty more on A Minecraft Movie, including how the Minecraft movie team had a private server they played on.

Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.

I remember vividly when I first caught wind of The Outer Worlds back in 2018 – my managing editor at the time talked about his preview of what developer Obsidian was working on; an original first-person RPG with the makings of a Fallout game. As someone who still won’t shut up about Fallout: New Vegas to this day, that was music to my ears. It turned out to be one of my favorite games of 2019, but instead of expecting it to be the next coming of Fallout, I saw it more as a new foundation for Obsidian to work within.

There were certain limitations to what the first Outer Worlds could be in terms of size and scope, and that much was clear in the several conversations I’ve had with the development team when reflecting on it. But after seeing the sequel in action for the first time and interviewing key folks at Obsidian, The Outer Worlds 2 seems like that original vision fully realized. For all the details I’ve been able to dig up about the revamped gameplay systems and worldbuilding, the overarching idea was that The Outer Worlds 2 needed to be a deeper RPG where player choice has more of an impact in nearly all aspects of the experience. And from everything I’ve gathered from our month’s-worth of exclusive coverage, this sequel looks like it’s stepping in the right direction.

What I’ve seen thus far is based on an early build of the game, all of which has been through hands-off demos, and all the footage you’ve seen was provided by Obsidian. So while I haven’t played it yet, The Outer Worlds 2 is so far reminding me of some of the best parts of the studio’s long list of RPGs, where unconventional playstyles are viable and unpredictable choices and outcomes are intrinsic to the roleplaying aspect, asking you to roll with the punches regardless of whether or not it’s deemed “optimal,” and this manifests in several ways.

Attributes, which were stats that you invested in as you leveled up, have been set aside for a heavier focus on Skills – a total of 12 (including staples like Engineering, Explosives, Guns, Hacking, Leadership, and more) now dictate how your character functions. While this may seem like further streamlining, the goal is to make sure the points you put into various Skills have a more noticeable impact throughout the process of leveling up, as opposed to the minute effects you’d feel in the old Attributes system. Of course, I can’t speak to how this comes to fruition in a full playthrough, but there are other systems in place that feed into the idea that these mechanical decisions can affect your character in bigger ways.

That leads to Perks, of which there will be about 90 to choose from. There are specific Skill levels needed to gain access to certain Perks, but these are said to offer significant changes to what you can do in combat, conversations, exploration, and more. One example is a Perk that lets you aim, fire, and reload while sprinting and sliding for those who want to approach enemies with the mentality of a traditional shooter. Or the Serial Killer and Psychopath Perks that grant bonuses for those who try a much more violent playthrough. Or the Space Ranger Perk that lets you convert points in your Speech Skill into damage bonuses in battle. Dialogue branches may vary based on the Skills and Perks you have (more so than the original), or your character may pick up on things in the environment they wouldn’t be able to otherwise, so the results of your build aren't just isolated in combat scenarios. Those are just a few examples of how these systems feed into specific playstyles with the intention of rewarding you for the way in which you’re specialized.

Then there are Traits that stack additional permanent effects that you wouldn’t necessarily get through Perks. The catch is that if you want to take more Positive Traits, you have to also select Negative Traits, and that’s where things can get interesting. I’m actually curious about how I’d play with something like “Dumb” where I’d have to lock myself out from ever putting points into five of the 12 Skills, or “Sickly” where I’d take lower health and toxic resistance. It seems like a trade-off that could be worth it, depending on how I want to build out my character.

But if you want to lean more into unconventional mechanics, accounting for things you usually wouldn’t in other RPGs – enter the new Flaws system. Like in the original, the game is watching your behavior and then offering permanent bonuses at the cost of a permanent detractor depending on how you play. However, The Outer Worlds 2 goes deeper on this idea – you’re not just offered a Perk point if you take a Flaw. Flaws now have bespoke status effects and conditions that can have major ramifications for how you’ll play the game, should you take a Flaw. I only got to see two of them, but they speak to the philosophy behind them. Sungazer offers regenerative health outdoors during the day at the cost of extreme visual lens flare and reduced accuracy, and that’s activated by staring into the sun multiple times. Or if you quickly skip through dialogue choices frequently, Foot-in-Mouth offers a permanent XP bonus while forcing you to make all future dialogue choices in a 15-second window – and if that timer runs out, the game will pick for you, which can lead to some unintended consequences. There’s another Flaw that’ll force you to accept all future Flaws no matter what, and Obsidian hinted at one that will account for those who save scum, but that remains to be seen – it’s bizarre ideas like these that can shake up playthroughs. Obsidian said there are around 30 Flaws in total, and my hope is that the incentives will be worth the trade-off, and that they’re built in a way that it won’t be easy to circumvent their effects, which could diminish their impact.

All that said, it’s clear that Obsidian put a lot of thought into how to rebuild its RPG mechanics with the intention of making something that is more reactive and impactful, or at least purposeful along the progression path. And with no respec beyond the intro mission, you’ll have to build out your character with a little more care. Hands-off demos can only tell me so much, so I’m expecting everything else around The Outer Worlds 2 to bring out the best in those systems and push me to engage with them beyond the surface level.

That sounds all well and good, and the brief gameplay sequences I saw were also promising. While the first game had approachability at the forefront, The Outer Worlds 2 looks like it’s offering more variability with a web of systems that come together for something a bit more sophisticated. For example, we now have actual stealth mechanics with a better detection system, proper stealth kills, and scenarios in which this approach would make sense – and features such as damage bar read-outs tell you whether or not a stealth attack will be worth it. The N-Ray Scanner is one of the new gadgets you’ll use, and this lets you see through walls and detect cloaked enemies or key objects hidden in the environment, but it’ll expend your mana-like energy – it’s a tool that’s conducive to this playstyle, and I’m looking for how this approach can be sustained throughout.

Judging from the brief run of the N-Ray Facility, for example, I saw snippets of that in action, which leans into this particular playstyle I prefer. This level was also ripe for playing it like an immersive sim, and it gave me hints of Deus Ex or Dishonored, especially with how you navigate the level and find different paths. I know the DNA of those games will always find their way into first-person RPGs, but it’s something that wasn’t quite as present in the first Outer Worlds, and very much apparent in this sequel.

And while I’m excited for stealth options and wielding the environment to create paths forward, the punched-up gunplay and addition of gadgets shows an improvement in combat approaches across the board. The aforementioned sprint-slide-firing Perk – along with the returning Tactical Time Dilation (TTD) – looks to be a deadly combo in a firefight, but some wild unique weapons like the crank-powered sniper rifle called the Planet Killer or the advertisement-blasting Pop Gun that’ll distract enemies, widen your toolset. When all hell breaks loose, the triple-barrel shotgun will probably be an old reliable in my playthrough. And I’m sure I’ll be saving those rare shots I’ll find for this game’s version of the BFG for the toughest fights.

But with Obsidian looking to games like Destiny in terms of reworking gunplay, I think it’s a net-positive for how the game feels on a moment-to-moment basis. There’s an emphasis on better mobility, smarter enemy behavior, and varied enemy types, along with that wider, more creative arsenal. But there’s also no more level scaling, and so there’s been more consideration in how difficulty works in The Outer Worlds 2 with tiered enemies and static levels for encounters across the game, letting encounters be designed with more intent, especially with where the designers will funnel players and create friction.

The more intimate details of level design excite me, and seeing interiors like the Zyranium Lab be noticeably bigger and intricate with multiple paths has me thinking about the gameplay possibilities. But its large open zones are also a key point in this sequel. I’ve said in previous coverage that bigger doesn’t always mean better, and Obsidian is aware of that. So, The Outer Worlds 2 has an emphasis on density and rewarding players who poke around its areas with more side stories and useful loot in a way that the first game didn’t. Points of interest out in the distance are built intentionally and are said to be placed for a reason and draw players to those locations and discover quests off the beaten path. This is all based on a brief walkthrough of Golden Ridge, which is the only open zone I saw, and it does seem like there’s a lot more going on at the ground level. And I hope that this design philosophy extends to the rest of The Outer Worlds 2's open regions.

Finally, Obsidian wasn’t ready to share many details on story or companions, but game director Brandon Adler hinted at a world-changing event happening early on when landing on Golden Ridge, and that being indicative of the types of narrative swings they’re going for. Creative director Leonard Boyarsky, who was one of the original Fallout developers, spoke to how the team is thinking about The Outer Worlds 2’s story. He mentioned being sharper with its humorous tone while going deeper on its commentary about how corporations, and those in power, will exert and abuse their power on those seen below them. It seems a major factor in conveying these themes will be through factions – The Protectorate, The Order of the Ascendant, and Auntie’s Choice (a merger between Auntie Cleo and Spacer’s Choice from the first game). While companions are optional, it appears they’ll be an important lens through which you navigate and understand the world. Boyarsky also emphasized the intention of making a story that can stand the test of time with its dissection of the human condition, rather than directly reflect the times in which it was made – and that’s largely been the philosophy that guided the old Fallout games, including New Vegas.

Overall, I get the impression that Obsidian is trying to avoid homogeneity in its gameplay systems, and build worlds with questlines and encounters that tease out the varied options you have this time around. You can have complex and creative systems to toy with, but ultimately, it’s a means for engaging with the captivating stories tucked within where we have a distinct role to play. If the original Outer Worlds was Obsidian building the framework, my hope is that this sequel is the series reaching its full potential. And that’s something we’ll have to see when The Outer Worlds 2 comes out later this year.

Game of Thrones: Kingsroad is set to leave early access and launch on May 21, Netmarble and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment have announced.

The action-adventure role-playing game based on George R. R. Martin’s much-loved fantasy universe is set for release on all mobile platforms as well as on PC via Steam, the Epic Games Store, and Windows.

Game of Thrones: Kingsroad launched in early access form in March, and has a ‘mixed’ user review rating on Steam. Most of the negative reviews revolve around its monetization, which some have called “greedy.” “It’s like a mobile game on steroids and kinda not in a good way,” reads the current ‘most helpful’ review on Valve’s platform.

In a release date FAQ posted to Steam, Netmarble addressed the expected gap between the progression of early access and new players. It said that Game of Thrones: Kingsroad is “fundamentally designed with a focus on single-player gameplay,” and that it had worked to “minimize any feelings of imbalance or unfairness that might arise from differences in progression.”

Testing was conducted to improve the game, the development team continued, "to improve the game and make it more enjoyable and accessible for everyone."

“We encourage all players to focus on the inherent fun of progressing through the later stages and reaching the endgame content, rather than comparing progress with other characters,” Netmarble suggested.

Netmarble went on to apologize for its prior communication and patches, which it admitted were “somewhat lacking.”

“Moving forward, we are committed to more frequent and transparent communication through regular AMA sessions and Developer Notes,” it added. “We kindly ask for your continued anticipation and support as we approach the official launch.”

As you’d expect from a game like this, there’s a premium Founder’s Pack that offers Early Access and other exclusive in-game content. Mobile players can pre-register through the App Store and Google Play store on iOS and Android devices ahead of the grand launch.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

When it comes to the Great American Novel, you'll be hard-pressed to find a more quintessential pick than Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage. The book's unflinching depiction of a soldier's life during the Civil War made it unique in the literary world upon release, and it also makes it a natural fit to be adapted into a graphic novel. Abrams ComicArts has done just that.

Ahead of its May release, IGN can exclusively debut a new preview of The Red Badge of Courage. Get a closer look in the slideshow gallery below:

The Red Badge of Courage is adapted from Crane's original prose by writer/artist Steve Cuzor. Here's Abrams' official description of the graphic novel:

Written by Stephen Crane when he was just 24, The Red Badge of Courage is a Civil War story that captured the imaginations of readers worldwide and made its author an overnight literary icon. Now artist Steve Cuzor and Abrams ComicArts are publishing a powerful graphic novel adaptation of the classic and genre-defining war novel. Cuzor’s stark yet detailed artwork in The Red Badge of Courage perfectly captures the realistic prose of the original novel, presenting a lushly illustrated, unflinching depiction of war through the eyes of a young, inexperienced soldier.

A groundbreaking and realistic examination of the psychological effects of war, The Red Badge of Courage draws from firsthand accounts and research and has been continuously in print since its publication in 1894. Crane’s depiction of his main character, Henry Fleming, and his internal monologue, ring so true that many readers mistook Crane for a veteran himself. The realistic prose and visceral descriptions of battle that Crane used marked the first shift away from uncritical patriotism in war literature. It would take until at least the 1920s and the wake of the horror of the First World War for the rest of the genre to catch up. In the years following its publication, The Red Badge of Courage was hailed by Crane scholar Henry Wertheim as “unquestionably the most realistic novel about the American Civil War,” while Ernest Hemingway called the novel an “American classic.”

“By illustrating Crane’s classic story, Cuzor pulls readers into the midst of the action, making Henry Fleming’s experience feel all the more visceral,” said Abrams ComicArts' Publisher Joseph Montagne in a statement. “Literary aficionados and students alike will find another layer of this classic story to appreciate in this new adaptation of Crane’s magnum opus.”

The Red Badge of Courage will be released in bookstores on Tuesday, May 13 and in comic shops on Wednesday, May 14. You can preorder a copy on Amazon.

In other comic book news, iconic TMNT villain Shredder is getting his own solo series, and we've got an exclusive look inside the new Heavy Metal series.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.

The buzz around preordering a Nintendo Switch 2 has also come with its reputation for more expensive new games, but getting to grab the physical version of Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition for £60 on the upcoming system is a nice surprise.

Available at Monster Shop's eBay store, the outlet has introduced a "LOOPY20" discount code that, when applied at checkout, will take the titular 20% right off the game's price tag to £59.99.

With The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered out and millions of players enjoying Bethesda's much-loved open-world role-playing game, its army of fans are coming together to issue advice to those who might have missed out on the fun 20 years ago.

Oblivion remastered is a remaster, not a remake, Bethesda has stressed, and so many of the quirks of its ageing design remain. One of those quirks — or frustrations it might be better called — is Oblivion’s level scaling system.

Oblivion’s original designer recently called the game's level scaling a “mistake,” but it made it into Oblivion Remastered anyway. It means loot acquired is tied to the level of your character at the point you acquire it. Similarly, enemies will still spawn according to your level.

It’s this latter point that has sparked a fresh round of advice from Oblivion veterans to newcomers, and it all revolves around Castle Kvatch.

Warning! Spoilers for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered follow.

Breaking the Siege of Kvatch is the fourth main quest, and tasks you with defending the city of Kvatch against the Daedric hordes. It involves going through an Oblivion gate where you’ll face off against multiple high level enemies. Once you've done that and closed the Oblivion gate, you have to clear out the Daedric invasion in the main plaza of Kvatch itself.

If you waited too long and leveled up a lot, you'll find that all of your helping friends are quickly killed because the enemies you're facing are extremely difficult. Due to Oblivion’s level scaling system, the higher level you are, the tougher those enemies will be. At higher levels, Kvatch will throw every variety of Daedra at you, rather than easy-to-kill Scamps. You might encounter a room full of Daedroth (strong crocodile-headed bipedal Daedra), Daedric Princes, or other monstrosities.

Breaking the Siege of Kvatch leads into The Battle for Castle Kvatch, should you take it on. Here you battle to retake the town's castle, defeating the Daedra along the way. Like Breaking the Siege of Kvatch, level scaling can be a real problem here.

Enter helpful Oblivion veterans who are recommending players take on Kvatch before they hit level 10.

“I'm like panicking now…” said redditor IsThatHearsay. “First time playing Oblivion, didn't even know you had to sleep to lvl up until just before I got to this mission.

“Closed the Kvatch Oblivion gate right before this mission still as lvl 1, then read online to sleep and I jumped from lvl 1 to 9 immediately with hour sleep increments. Met Martin there and decided to escort him to the Cloud place to take a break from fighting, followed by deciding to cheese some skills like Conjuration, Acrobatics, Sneak, and whatnot quickly and climbed to lvl 15.

“Now have to go back to do Kvatch at lvl 15+, when I'm hearing I probably should've just done it while still lvl 1…”

“I just tried it at level 20 and let me tell you, that shit is fucking rough,” said frontadmiral.

“Completed at lvl 21 on a mage, god it was tough,” said Ranaki_1967. “Had to in the field recharge my staff, drink potions escape down the ladder, have maximum shield armour, a Dremora champion.

“The framerate was bad.”

“Bro im doing it at 27 rn and im NOT having a good time, Xivali are EVERYWHERE,” Mother_Bid_4294 said.

Even Oblivion experts have been caught by taking on Kvatch at too high a level. “I've oblivioned extensively in the original but I still made the same mistake, went back to Kvatch level 13, just about manageable,” Various-Jellyfish132.

“Make use of sneak for bonus damage and retreat through loading doors to recover if needed, if you have a bit of space, their attacks are easily dodged. The daedroths don't seem to follow you through the doors so you can pick them off one at a time.”

“Oblivion scaling is just wild though because you will level up once and suddenly Scamps transform into Daedroths and Clannfear Runts turn into Daedric Princes,” Groosin1 said.

“Because the scaling cap is only 17-18. And the way leveling works, at 17-20 you could be anywhere from a guy with middling combat skills for what you're using and getting obliterated, to being God.”

Part of the issue here is that players are leveling up faster in Oblivion Remastered than they did in the original Oblivion. That’s because the developers changed the leveling system to modernize it, but kept the level scaling the same.

This has had the knock-on effect of causing some players to be a higher level than they would have been in the original when taking on tough quests such as Kvatch.

For the first time ever I decided to do Kvatch before level 10. It was cool to see it actually functioning as an even battle instead of a horde of overleveled demons one-shotting all the guards. Really makes you wonder if they ever tested it at higher levels. pic.twitter.com/VeQH3xst0b

— Entropy Phi (@entropy_phi) April 27, 2025

As you’d expect, modders have once again come to the rescue. Fresh from tackling PC performance issues in Oblivion Remastered, modders have also released balanced NPC level cap mods and balanced unleveled rewards mods, so if you’re on PC, you can change the way Oblivion Remastered works significantly. If you’re on console, however, you’re stuck with level scaling.

We’ve got plenty more on Oblivion Remastered, including a report on a player who managed to escape the confines of Cyrodiil to explore Valenwood, Skyrim, and even Hammerfell, the rumored setting of The Elder Scrolls VI.

We've also got a comprehensive guide to everything you'll find in Oblivion Remastered, including an expansive Interactive Map, complete Walkthroughs for the Main Questline and every Guild Quest, How to Build the Perfect Character, Things to Do First, every PC Cheat Code, and much more.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

We're just over a month away from the much-hyped arrival of Nintendo Switch 2, which means Nintendo has been busy behind the scenes, updating its OG Switch firmware and getting the digital eShop ready for June 5. Part of those changes, however, has evoked a surprisingly strong reaction in fans — the eShop has switched from orange to red.

Not only has the orange background — which has been the shop's primary color since the Nintendo 3DS days of June 2011 – been refreshed to a bright red, but the shop icon on the Home screen's taskbar has also been given a coat of paint. Previously, the red background color had primarily only been used to mark key Nintendo anniversaries.

RIP orange eShop. Lasted from 2011 to 2025 across 3DS, Wii U and Switch 🫡 pic.twitter.com/Gv9bBUKJ2H

— It's-A-Mii, BoTalksGames! (@BoTalksGames) April 30, 2025

That's not all, either. Nintendo has also straightened the 'e' on eShop and removed the little "eyelashes" from it, too, and changed the font, as demonstrated by the 't' in Nintendo.

"Going to be sick…" cried one alarmed Twitter respondent, while others descended into a "It's bread" frenzy, riffing on the viral Silent Hill 3 meme.

"Yeah I miss the orange already, lol," said another commenter on Reddit, to which another joked: "NOW it’s next gen."

THEY KILLED HIM

HES ALL RED NOW pic.twitter.com/4v2QiXboZv

— Nathan (@NSuperGamerGuy) April 30, 2025

Interestingly, though, this is actually not the first time the eShop has been red, as some players have also been reminiscing about. It also aligns the console store with the color palette you see when visiting the Nintendo eShop via your browser.

On the plus side, players are reporting the updated eShop seems to be responding faster since the most recent firmware update.

As IGN reported earlier today, Nintendo Switch Firmware Update Version 20.0.0 makes a number of key changes to the eight-year-old console in preparation of the launch of its successor, the Switch 2, in June, according to the patch notes released on Nintendo's official website. It includes the addition of a system transfer to Nintendo Switch 2, which you’ll now find in System Settings, so you'll be able to transfer from your Switch to Switch 2 using local communication.

This is all leading towards the hotly anticipated release of the Nintendo Switch 2 on June 5. Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders went live on April 24, with the price still fixed at $449.99 — and they went about as well as you'd expect. Meanwhile, Nintendo has issued a warning to U.S. customers who applied for a Switch 2 pre-order from the My Nintendo Store, saying release date delivery is not guaranteed due to very high demand.

Check out IGN's Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order guide for more.

Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.